Earlier this month, Nicki Minaj became the latest rapper to re-release her mixtape to streaming services. By reintroducing her 2009 classic Beam Me Up Scotty to the masses — along with three new songs, including the Young Money posse cut “Seeing Green” featuring Drake and Lil Wayne — Minaj earned a No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200 on Sunday (May 23).
While re-releasing a mixtape to streaming services can be complicated due to sample clearances, some rappers, like Lil Wayne (No Ceilings), Drake (So Far Gone) and Wiz Khalifa (Kush & Orange Juice), successfully found ways to re-master and re-release their respective projects. Below are 12 heralded mixtapes we would love to see on streaming services soon.
Check out our picks below.
Clipse, We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2
Three long years passed between Clipse’s debut album, 2003’s Lord Willin’, and sophomore LP Hell Hath No Fury, thanks to a label contract dispute with Jive Records that delayed the follow-up to the breakthrough project featuring “Grindin’” and “When The Last Time.” During the interim, Pusha T and Malice teamed up with rappers Ab-Liva and Sandman, formed the Re-Up Gang and created one of the most virtuosic mixtape series ever released: 2004’s We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 1 was a tasty appetizer, but Vol. 2 was downright epic, with Clipse and their cohorts laying waste to the beats for “Hate It Or Love It,” “Daytona 500” and “Mic Check,” among others. Simply put, few mixtapes ever released hold up as well as Vol. 2 — it darn near overshadows the studio albums it helped to bridge. — JASON LIPSHUTZ
Kid Cudi, A Kid Named Cudi
In March, Kid Cudi teased that fans of his 2008 debut mixtape might not have to wait much longer for its arrival on streaming services. That day can’t come soon enough: aside from its savvy samples (including OutKast, Paul Simon and N.E.R.D) and the first glimpse at the almighty Kid Cudi Hum, its influential sound functioned as a prequel of sorts for the Man on the Moon trilogy, and landed Cudi a contract with G.O.O.D Music just two months after its release. — JOSH GLICKSMAN
Rick Ross, Rich Forever
Rick Ross’s steely confidence and braggadocious spitting was too massive to be contained to just his albums. His affinity for blockbuster moments made his 2012 mixtape Rich Forever an indelible gem in the 2010s. Headlined by a star-studded guest crew (Drake, Nas, Diddy, 2 Chainz, and John Legend), Rozay sculpted a hood classic for those seeking generational wealth. The tape also featured a gutsy performance by the 6 God on the tape’s breakout hit “Stay Schemin’.” Craving devastation, Drizzy let off a couple of volleys at his one-time nemesis Common with his timeless verse. — Carl Lamarre
Travis Scott, Days Before Rodeo
Pre-Astroworld, the Houston rapper’s main domain was the rodeo that had its own Western theme, the Big Sean- and The 1975-assisted “Don’t Play.” The eponymous prayer intro and grittier production of 2014’s Days Before Rodeo rooted Scott’s day-one ragers in a more intimate, sanctified space that last year welcomed a world of digital ones via Fortnite. If Days Before Rodeo could find a new streaming home, it would provide his more recent fans a greater understanding of the artistry that made Scott an underground star even before his 2015 debut LP Rodeo. — HERAN MAMO
J. Cole, Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights was less of a mixtape and more of an album that just happened to be available for free. From the subtly melancholy piano introduction, setting the stage for the then-blossoming rapper’s underdog story, to the masterfully flipped R&B samples throughout, J. Cole delivered arguably the most cohesive mixtape of the decade’s rap trinity (Cole along with Drake and Kendrick Lamar). While the project arrived less than a year before his freshman album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, for many true fans, FNL was the album, establishing the North Carolina MC as one of the most skilled lyrical storytellers of his generation. And while Cole puts a bow on the tape with a reflective track titled “Farewell,” it was really only the beginning. — NEENA ROUHANI
Rich Gang, Tha Tour Pt. 1
In 2014, Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug were easily two of the most exciting young rappers around, and Birdman was riding high on the best track record of developing MCs in the game, after Drake and Nicki Minaj had followed Lil Wayne in ascending to superstar status. So the stage was set for a powerhouse collaboration — and Tha Tour Part 1 absolutely delivered, with Thug and Quan at their quirky, creative best and Birdman cruising alongside with supreme confidence. Whether weaving back and forth around each other on “I Know It” and “Flava” or standing tall on their own on “I Know It,” “Milk Marie” and “730,” there was a legitimate debate as to who showed out the sharpest on the project — or whether Quan and Thug would be able to inherit the top duo throne from OutKast that Quan had so boldly declared was theirs. It all fell apart in a hail of rumors and speculation, but for one project there (and the classic single “Lifestyle,” not even found on the mixtape), the stars aligned. — DAN RYS
Lil Wayne, Dedication 2
The story of Lil Wayne’s ascent to the biggest rapper in the world, which culminated in 2008 with the massive-selling Tha Carter III, cannot be told without mentioning his critically acclaimed, wildly popular mixtapes, stuffed with nonsequiturs and a persona that would soon be packing arenas. Just five months after releasing Tha Carter II in December 2005 — a rich, exciting LP that didn’t contain the crossover hits of future projects — Weezy teamed up with DJ Drama for Dedication 2, a sample-rich, brilliantly executed deconstruction of the English language that would earn the rapper some of the best reviews of his career. From his musings on professional sports in “SportsCenter” to his calling out President George W. Bush for his response to Hurricane Katrina, Dedication 2 is an essential project to understanding Lil Wayne and his still-potent appeal. — J.L.
Fabolous, The S.O.U.L. Tape
By 2011, Fab was already a mixtape king because of his stellar execution on his DJ Drama-hosted series, There Is No Competition. To up the ante, Loso fancied a different path: obliterating soulful classics. Titled The S.O.U.L. Tape, he kicked things off by revisiting 2Pac’s classic “Pain” before surfing through Wiz Khalifa’s “Phone Numbers.” After the success of 2010’s “You Be Killin’ Em,” Fab gifted fans the song’s sequel “Look at Her,” while adding extra pressure to the ladies on “Leaving You” and “Drugs.” Last month, Fab celebrated the mixtape’s 10-year anniversary but didn’t hint whether his elusive classic would land on streaming. — C.L.
Big Sean, Detroit
Before Big Sean’s 2020 album Detroit 2 debuted atop the Billboard 200, he released its prequel in 2012, a 16-track love letter to his hometown with Common, Jeezy and Snoop Dogg sharing fond memories as interludes. Sean told a fan on 313 Day to expect the re-mixed and mastered tape on streaming this spring, so it’s time he kept his promise. — H.M.
Mac Miller, FACES
In 2019, recording engineer Josh Berg told Billboard that “you literally had to pry [Mac Miller] out of the studio with a crowbar” during the recording process of FACES, or else he’d seemingly spend days in there at a time. The result is both exhilarating and heartwrenching: just four tracks after boasting “I did it all without a Jay feature!” he raps “a drug habit like Philip Hoffman will probably put me in a coffin.” At different points, FACES is Mac at his most unfiltered, vulnerable and goofy – everything that made him so easy to root for. — J.G.
50 Cent, 50 Cent Is The Future
First things first: this project, from the golden era of mixtapes in the early 2000s, will never see a commercial release, for many of the same reasons that it became such a phenomenon: Namely that it features 50 talking the most s–t anyone has ever talked about other rappers over beats from the very rappers he was dissing — and doing it better than they did originally. From the first slinking lines of “U Should Be Here” to the standout bars from 50, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo — as well as the first G-Unit appearance from Young Buck — this tape changed hip-hop in more ways than one, heralding a new force from the underground that was demanding recognition, and taking no prisoners along the way. The unfinished feel lends The Future just as much authenticity as 50’s sneering confidence, and the run of tapes that this kicked off remains unparalleled. — D.R.
Nicki Minaj, Playtime Is Over
Yes, Beam Me Up Scotty remains the indispensable Nicki Minaj mixtape, the pristine display of her lyrical skills and knack for hooks. Yet 2007’s Playtime Is Over, released two years prior, deserves to be appreciated as the true debut of a multi-dimensional star. Placing her own spin on songs by the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z and Fabolous, Minaj hinted at the presence in New York hip-hop that she wanted to command, and eventually would; meanwhile, tackling songs like Lil Kim’s “The Jump Off” and Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss” represented early indicators of how far Minaj would push the view of women in mainstream rap. There are a lot of enormous samples to clear on Playtime Is Over, but Minaj should be heard over all of them. — J.L.
